Choe Ryong-hae, high-ranking NK figure, makes first public appearance in two months

Posted on : 2016-01-16 19:53 KST Modified on : 2016-01-16 19:53 KST
It was speculated that Choe had been assigned “revolutionary education” as punishment for an accident at a power plant
Choe Ryong-hae
Choe Ryong-hae

Choe Ryong-hae, 66, one of the leading figures in North Korea’s “second generation of partisans,” made an appearance at a public event for the first time in two months. Reports suggested that Choe had been sent from Pyongyang to the countryside for “revolutionary education,” but he has apparently been reinstated.

In a Jan. 15 report by the Rodong Sinmun, the official paper of North Korea’s Korean Workers’ Party, Choe – identified by the paper as “Secretary of the Korean Workers’ Party Central Committee” - delivered an address at an awards ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the Kim Il-sung Socialist Youth League. The ceremony, the paper said, was held at the People’s Palace of Culture in Pyongyang on Jan. 14.

During the speech, Choe reportedly urged members of the league to “feel pride [. . .] for the great success of the hydrogen bomb test and to show off their spirit and resolution as heroic North Korean youth in the struggle to usher in a glorious era of building a powerful country this year, which will witness the hosting of the 7th Congress of the Korean Workers’ Party.”

The Kim Il-sung Socialist Youth League is North Korea’s representative organization for young workers. This report suggested that Choe still maintains his position in charge of workers’ organizations. Choe served as the first secretary of the league, and he was also its chair when it used to be called the League of Socialist Working Youth of Korea.

According to reports, this was the first time that Choe appeared in public since an article in the Rodong Sinmun from Oct. 31, 2015. After the purging of Jang Song-thaek, Choe had often been regarded as the second most powerful person in North Korea, under North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un. Some thought he was the third most powerful person, just under Hwang Pyong-so, who leads the political bureau of the Korean People’s Army (KPA).

Speculation that something may have happened to Choe began to appear after his name was omitted from a list of officials attending the funeral of KPA Marshal Ri Ul-sol on Nov. 8, 2015.

After that, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service reported to the National Assembly’s Intelligence Committee that Choe had apparently been banished to a collective farm in the countryside for “revolutionary education,” to punish him for an accident at the Baekdu Mountain Heroic Youth Power Plant.

Choe’s name did appear on the list of state funeral committee members for the funeral of KWP Secretary Kim Yang-gon at the end of Dec. 2015, suggesting that he had been reinstated, but he did not attend the funeral itself, nor did he accompany Kim Jong-un when he paid his respects at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun on the New Year.

Considering the relative speed with which Choe has been reinstated, some analysts believe that he may have only been placed on probation, which would be a milder penalty than revolutionary education.

By Kim Jin-cheol, staff reporter

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